Collection

Dignity/New York Collection

Span Dates: 1966-1997
Bulk Dates:
Volume: 5.5 linear ft.

Description

The Dignity/New York collection contains the Formation/Steering Committee/Board of Directors minutes and attachments, as well as calendars, worship programs, and copies of court proceedings regarding demonstrating at St. Patrick's Cathedral during the LGBT Pride Marches and activities of The Cathedral Project. The collection also includes documents and newspaper articles used in exhibits. The collection contains the newsletter "Concern" (1966-1969) of the Southern California Council on Religion and the Homophile, as well as "Insight: A Quarterly of (Lesbian/[1979-1981]) Gay Christian Opinion" (1976-1981). See the related Dignity/New York, President Michael Olivieri collection.

Hist/Bio Note

Dignity New York was established in 1972 after formation meetings with John McNeill. Its first public meeting was chaired by the psychologist James Serafini. A Jewish group within Dignity was a co-founder of temple Beth Simchat Torah in 1973. Dignity members led in the founding of the National Gay Task Force (NGTF now called National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, located in Washington, DC) and began ongoing efforts to help pass gay civil rights law. They did this by organizing clergy in the city in support of the bill. Dignity also devoted its energies to combatting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Dignity led in the protests surrounding the St. Patrick's Day parade in the 1980s when Dignity's membership and weekly attendance hovered at 400. At this time, social and political life includes committees for Liturgy, Social Action, Service (including the renovation and staffing of a homeless shelter for women and services to the blind, the elderly - through S.A.G.E., an organization founded by Dignity member Damien Martin, and to prisoners). There is an Acting Company that writes and produces its own plays, a peer counseling training program and a counseling program led by a prominent psychiatrist, a lecture series, and the Dignity Crusaders Softball Team. In addition, Dignity New York helped found other Dignity chapters in New Jersey, Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens, and Brooklyn.

Finding Aid

The finding aid to this collection is available at the following link.
https://gaycenter.org/archive_item/dignity-new-york-inc/

Location

The collection is processed and open for research at the National Archives of the LGBT Community Center in New York City.
https://www.gaycenter.org/community/archive

Tags

Catholic (Roman) | Olivieri, Michael | Dignity | Insight Magazine | AIDS | New York